Battling bullies: Ashokan Center in Olivebridge home to Institute for Social and Emotional Learning (video)

David Levine, director of the Institute for Social and Emotional Learning at the Ashokan Center in Olivebridge, talks with students from The Little Red Schoolhouse and Elisabeth Irwin High School of New York, who were at the Ashokan Center for three days.(Freeman photo by Tania Barricklo)

OLIVEBRIDGE, N.Y. -- The director of the new Institute for Social and Emotional Learning at the Ashokan Center hopes his organization will serve both as an important resource to help Mid-Hudson schools become more inclusive and an international hub for educators committed to battling bullying.

David Levine, a former chief trainer for the U.S. Department of Education's Safe and Drug Free Schools and Communities Program, said the psychological strain bullying and harassment can place on victims causes many students to lose focus on education.

When educators are able to create "Schools of Belonging," the name of his program designed to change the social culture of schools, Levine said students are supported socially and emotionally, causing academic achievement to improve.

Bullying and harassment have been a focus of schools in the region as they respond to the state's Dignity for All Students Act, which according to the state Education Department, strives to provide "public elementary and secondary school students with a safe and supportive environment free from discrimination, intimidation, taunting, harassment, and bullying on school property, a school bus and/or at a school function."

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Levine, the author of four books including "Teaching Empathy," said schools can treat the legislation as a mandate with which they need to comply or as an opportunity to improve their students' experiences by seeking meaningful change, and he hopes to be part of the solution.

Various classes and workshops for educators at the Ashokan Center are scheduled to begin in November. Meanwhile, Levine said he has seen the impact of anti--bullying programs on student academic achievement anecdotally, but he hopes to acquire grant money to house a research project to measure how social change can improve academics in a larger way.

Before setting up shop at the Ashokan Center, Levine, who was once a teacher at Woodstock Elementary School, had traveled around the Hudson Valley and the state to train educators to make schools more inclusive.

Levine said he has brought his "School of Belonging" philosophy to rougher places like the Bronx, where he recalled at one school gangs would wait across the street from elementary schools to recruit third- and fourth-graders after school, to more affluent places like Scarsdale, where he said students were "very socially conscious" about what was happening in the world but often "not very nice to each other" in the cafeteria.

"No matter where you go, you will have kids who are not equipped to deal with the drama they encounter every day," said Levine.

Levine said he does not consider his workshops to be a "canned program" and that it is important to take stock of each individual school's atmosphere and tailor efforts to provide social and emotional support to the needs of the community.

Some larger lessons he has learned, however, include that not just teachers and administrators need to be involved in efforts to make schools more inclusive but also other staff like bus drivers, security personnel, and cafeteria workers.

He emphasized encouraging students to think about empathy, be mindful about how their actions affect others, and the need to teach young people to manage their problems like adults rather than to simply cope with them.

It is important to get students talking, said Levine, and one tactic he has seen work well is having regularly scheduled community meetings in the classroom during which students share thoughts, feelings, and ideas. Those conversations can range from how students feel about upcoming tests to academic topics like what it was like to be a pioneer.

"It's not fluff, it's life," said Levine, who said creating an inclusive environment must be a sustained effort and not be treated as a "flavor of the month" kind of program.

Among local schools Levine has visited, he highlighted a visit to Robert Graves Elementary School last year and work at Edward R. Crosby Elementary School four years ago, where he said then-Principal John Voerg, who is now assistant superintendent for personnel in the Kingston school district, made social and emotional learning a significant point of emphasis.

More information about the program and training available is available at the Ashokan Center's website at http://bit.ly/RFBRgA.